Randolph County downs Davidson for Area III title, advances to state tournament

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ASHEBORO — Trevor Marsh belted a three-run homer and drove in four runs to spark Randolph County to a 6-4 victory over Davidson County on Sunday night at McCrary Park in Asheboro.

Marsh also went five innings in relief for Post 45 on the mound to pick up the win and give Randolph County the Area III title, it’s 10th overall. Harris Jackson also had a huge night offensively for Randolph County, belting four hits including a triple and a homer.

Post 45 had defeated High Point 8-6 in eight innings on Friday night at Finch Field in Thomasville to take the Area III semi-final series three games to one.

Spencer Lanier drove in a pair of runs in the top of the eighth to secure the win for Post 45 Dawson Davis pitched the final 1.1 innings to notch the victory. Lanier closed with two his and two RBI while Austin Curry added three more hits, a double and an RBI, Blake Marsh two hits and a pair of RBI, and Harris Jackson scored three runs.

Randolph County will take a 30-7 record into Friday’s North Carolina State Tournament in Cherryville while Davidson, 20-9, also advances to the state tourney.

All the qualifying teams travel to Cherryville on Thursday where they will attend an orientation session before the annual Home Run Derby takes place later that evening at Cherryville High School.

As of press time, the seeds have not been determined but joining the host team and Area IV Champion Cherryville Post 100 will be the Gaston Braves Posts 144/266 and a third team from Area IV, Union County Post 535. Area IV gets three teams due to Cherryville hosting the event. In addition to Area III representatives Randolph County Post 45 and Davidson County Post 8, defending State Champion Wilmington Post 10 will be the lone representative from Area II.

The Area I championship was set to be decided at Campbell University on Monday night between Kinston Post 43 and Fuquay-Varina Post 116 Nationals. Both of those teams will be in the state tournament.

Game times on Friday are set for 10:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.